Duncan McKenzie had a difficult time settling in following
his £250,000 transfer from NottinghamForest in August 1974, but a game
against Newcastle United just over a year later left him a much happier player.
Jimmy Armfield had succeeded Brian Clough, the
manager who had signed McKenzie, but his appointment had not put the mind of
the flamboyant striker totally at ease. Frequent visits to the manager’s office
to talk about his future were surrounded by persistent rumours that he would be
on his way out of Elland
Road, sooner rather than later.

McKenzie looked very much a part of the Elland Road side as he
spearheaded a team display of high standard in a 3-0 victory against Newcastle
United in November 1975. He scored two of the goals and was denied a hat-trick
only by a superb one-handed save by Newcastle
keeper Mike Mahoney. “I have not always seen eye to eye with the manager but I
feel now as though my future is with Leeds,” McKenzie
said after the game. “I have to admit that I had felt insecure but I’ve got
over that now. I have a long time ahead of me at Leeds
and the only way is to go out there and enjoy it.” He added.

His overall efforts against the Magpies delighted manager Armfield, who saw fit to heap public praise on the striker.
“I am not in the habit of singling out players for special mention but I
thought Duncan and Trevor Cherry were both outstanding against Newcastle,”
he said. “I believe that Duncan has
now got his priorities right. Recently he has looked far more confident and his
performances have improved as a result. I promised him the previous season that
I would give him his chance this time and I believe I have been true to my
word. I kept him in the team when he did not play quite so
well as he might have done, though I did leave him out at Burnley.
I believe that rest did him good. He picked himself up from that moment and is
playing really well now, as are the team as a whole,” he added.

United’s clash with Newcastle
threw up an unenviable task for United’s Scottish
international defender Gordon McQueen. Malcolm MacDonald, the darling of the
Newcastle fans in the 1970’s because of his scoring exploits, was hardly the
striker you would wish to come up against when you were rushed back into action
after a five match absence through injury. That was McQueen’s lot on this
occasion. He had not even the benefit of a reserve team outing to help ease him
into match action. “My ankle trouble has cleared up, bit I am feeling stiff
after training for the first time in five weeks,” McQueen said on the eve of
the game. However, the prospect of opposing MacDonald did not worry McQueen
unduly. “His main asset is his speed, but I am lucky that I can go a bit too,”
said the Scot.

McQueen’s sooner than expected return came about because
Norman Hunter was missing through a suspension imposed by the FA following his
dismissal at Derby, along with
Francis Lee. In addition to the obvious threat that MacDonald posed for United’s defenders, there was another strike threat to be
reckoned with in the form of Alan Gowling, a close
season recruit from HuddersfieldTown. He had made such an impact
since joining the Tyne-siders that he arrived at Elland Road as Newcastle’s
leading goal-scorer, having netted twelve goals to MacDonald’s ten.

It was the Leeds attack, McKenzie in
particular, that took the honours in this clash. The game was only ten minutes
old when McKenzie opened the scoring, heading in following a Peter Lorimer corner kick. It was just the start Armfield’s men were after and when McKenzie got his side’s
third goal in the fifty-first minute, it was again Lorimer
who supplied the lofted pass to enable him to glance a great header past
Mahoney.

In between Terry Yorath, again
being played up front in the absence of the injured Allan Clarke, slotted home
the second goal after sixteen minutes after Billy Bremner’s
shot had cannoned off a Newcastle
defender. While happy days were back for Leeds, it was a
case of what might have been for Newcastle.
MacDonald had an unhappy afternoon, missing a couple of good chances and being
thwarted by the agile Leeds keeper, David Harvey, who
turned in a top class display.

MacDonald himself agreed that the better team on the day won
the game. While McKenzie’s display grabbed the headlines, the player himself
was quick to give credit to the team as a whole. “We have plenty of individual
skills but these have to be harnessed to a team display and on this occasion
all the lads did well,” he said.

Match Action:

Duncan McKenzie scores with a header

Players:

Battle of the Super-Macs; Newcastle’s MacDonald and United’s McKenzie Gordon McQueen
was back after injury to tame Super-Mac

Duncan McKenzie scored two for LeedsTerry Yorath got United’s
other goalDavid Harvey gave a
top-class display

as Allan Clarke’s deputy

Trevor
Cherry was outstandingMike Mahoney was in goalIrving Nattrass
and Alan Kennedy were the full-backs

David Craig and Pat Howard were the central
defendersMalcolm MacDonald and Alan Gowling were the
strikers